Cassandra Aguilar

Cassandra Aguilar

Abstract: Lack of Relationship between Working Memory and Verbal Time Estimation

Cassandra Aguilar Jonathan Anderson, Psychology

Past research suggests that working memory is important in judging time intervals less than 30 seconds. The goal of the present studies was to investigate the role of working memory in making duration judgments using a verbal estimation paradigm. Study 1: Seventy-five neurologically normal individuals estimated time intervals of 10, 25, 45, and 60 seconds. Working memory was assessed by the WAIS-III Letter-Number Sequencing test. Controlling for age, a significant relationship emerged between working memory performance and absolute discrepancy scores at the 10, 25, and 45 s time intervals. Study 2: Seventy-four neurologically normal individuals completed the same time estimation task and an experimental working memory span task. This required participants to remember the correct sequence of letters, containing three to seven letters per set, while solving a series of math operations. Controlling for age, results revealed no significant relationships. Overall, these data suggest that time estimation accuracy was not related to majority of the measures of working memory performance.

Presentations

14th Annual Graduate and Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Symposium, May 17-18, 2011

Ninety-first Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, April 28-May 1, 2011